we think it's better for the economy, pure and simple. and secondly, listen, the american people expect us to find common ground, to work together and to resolve this. and, frankly, sooner is better than later. >> [inaudible] >> no, there's a stalemate. let's not kid ourselves. i'm not trying to make this more difficult. if you've watched me over the last three weeks, i've been very guarded in what i had to say, because i don't want to make it harder for me or the president or members of both parties to be able to find common ground. but when i come out the day after the election and make it clear that republicans will put revenue on the table, i took a great risk. and then the white house spends three weeks trying to develop a proposal, and they send one up here that calls for $1.6 trillion in new taxes, calls for a little -- not even $400 billion in cuts, and they want to have in this extra spending that's actually greater than the amount they're willing to cut. i mean, it's, it was not a serious proposal. and so right now we're almost